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March 27 – Armed Forces Day in Myanmar (aka Burma)

March 27, 2016

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nPostednon March 27, 2016

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Thennation that much of the world calls Myanmar is still callednBurma in the United States. But that leads to a lot ofnconfusion, because sources that reach people all over the worldn(like, you know, the internet!) often choose the label Myanmarn for articles and information, and that isn’t even close to Burmanin an alphabetized list!

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nThengovernment of the United Kingdom refers to the nation as Burma.nBut the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) refers to the nationnas Myanmar. The official U.S. policy is to call the nationnBurma, but the U.S. State Department website lists the countrynas Burma (Myanmar), and President Barack Obama has referred tonthe nation with both names.

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nWhynall the confusion?

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nThenmilitary government that took over in the nation changed the namenfrom Burma to Myanmar. But a lot of people in thennation do not accept that the military powers-that-be have any rightnto rule the nation, and they CERTAINLY don’t have the right to changenits name.

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nInnorder to honor those people’s complaint, many nations in the worldnhave followed those people’s resistance to the name change…

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nArmednForces Day, in whatever-you-call-it…

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Thisnholiday originally celebrated Burma’s resistance to Japanese forces,nwhich had taken over the area during World War II. The Burma NationalnArmy rose up against the Japanese on this date in 1945, all over thencountry, and the anti-fascism forces worked with the Allies to routnJapanese forces out of the nation. They largely succeeded in doing sonby May of that year. Japan surrendered from World War II on Septembern2, 1945.

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nDidnyou know…?

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nTheren are only three metric “holdouts” in the world – only three nationsn that still have not moved to the metric system: Myanmar (Burma),n Liberia, and the U.S.

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Both men and women wear a “cosmetic” made from the bark of the Thanakha tree and “skirts” called longyi. The cosmetic is a yellow paste that acts as a sunscreen. The longyi are pieces of fabric that are wrapped around the body; men wear them tied in front, and women wear them secured at the side.

The traditional “sport” of Myanmar (Burma) is a cooperative game called chinlone. The chinlone itself is sort of ball woven out of rattan. It makes a pleasant clicking sound when it is kicked.

nTo play, playersn form a circle and keep the chinlone in the air as long as possiblen by kicking it from player to player. It’s a bit like soccer – anyn body part can be used to “kick” the ball except the hands.